Decision day for Grand Chancellor

The demolition of the Hotel Grand Chancellor could destroy a neighbouring undamaged hotel, a US report says.

Plans on how the badly-quake damaged building will be demolished are due to be announced by Earthquake Recovery Minister Gerry Brownlee at 11.30am inside the Red Zone today.

The 26-storey building sustained significant structural damage in the February 22 earthquake and has remained on a noticeable lean since the 6.3 magnitude aftershock.

A report by US Army Corps of Engineers, released to Radio New Zealand under the Official Information Act, found the demolition of the troubled building could destroy a neighbouring undamaged hotel, as well as a number of others.

The report, which looked into potential demolition methods for a number of buildings in the Christchurch CBD, found that both conventional demolition or the use of explosives would damage or destroy the All Seasons Hotel.

It would also damage half a dozen buildings to the east.

Conventional demolition of the Hotel Grand Chancellor was predicted to take 35 to 40 weeks to complete, while the explosives method would take about 11 weeks.

An area around the hotel has been cordoned off with limited access allowed, due to the risk the building poses, so the demolition of the building is vital to reopening the rest of the central city.

Mr Brownlee is also to make an announcement on plans for the development at the Port of Lyttelton.